Mephisto
"Well may you tremble! For you gaze upon... Mephisto!'' "'' Origin Mephisto is an extra-dimensional demon whose origin is unknown. He rules a fiery pocket dimension that he calls "Hell" or "Hades" although it is neither the Hell of the Christian religion nor the Hades ruled by Pluto, the Olympian god of the dead. Mephisto calls his extra-dimensional realm "hell" in order to exploit Earth human beings' belief in a single being of absolute evil, who is often referred to as Satan, who rules such a realm. Mephisto resembles the traditional visual conception of the devil. (It is not known whether this is Mephisto's true appearance, or one that he has adopted in order to resemble the devil). He also allows himself to be called names that human beings give to their conceptions of devils, such as Mephisto, a shortened form of Mephistopheles, the name given to the devil in the Faust legends.5 Indeed, Mephisto has allowed people to believe him to be Satan himself. However, Mephisto is not the Biblical Satan, nor is he an actual devil such as those depicted by Judaism and Christianity. The real Satan has yet to be seen in any account. Mephisto's domain is inhabited by himself, by lesser demons who serve him, and by the astral forms of certain deceased human beings, which have been trapped in the bodies of demons. These demonic bodies imprisoning human spirits have been magically altered to resemble the deceased's mortal human forms. Mephisto is continually seeking to add more spirits of sentient beings to his realm by inducing living sentient beings to submit their wills to his. Mephisto apparently seeks primarily to enslave human souls, although he will go after those of extraterrestrials on Earth as well.5 987 A.D. In the year 987 A.D., seven members of a druid cult made a deal with Mephisto in exchange for immortality, they agreed to funnel souls into his realm. Over the subsequent millennium, the mages acquired great wealth became the board members a London-based corporation named Mys-Tech. To pay their debt to Mephisto, the Mys-Tech board plotted to take over the world and kill vast numbers of innocents.6 Silver Surfer Mephisto has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to break the will and enslave the soul of the noble alien known as the Silver Surfer. In order to do so, Mephisto kidnapped Shalla-Baland used her to force the Surfer do his bidding and give up his soul. Taking her to his realm, Mephisto was shocked when the Surfer was able to follow him to his realm. Mephisto tried to tempt the Surfer with riches and women in an attempt to corrupt his soul, however the Surfer is able to resist temptation. In a final attempt to try and corrupt the Surfer, Mephisto absorbed the Surfer into his mind. However, the opposite happened and Mephisto found that the Surfer's purity influenced his mind. Releasing the Surfer, Mephisto admitted defeat, but not before sending Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La and the Surfer back to Earth, where he is still trapped by the barrier erected by Galactus.7 His next attempt was to use the wandering ghost of Joost van Straaten, the legendary Flying Dutchman. Mephisto used his powers to transform the ghost of Joost into the Ghost, a super-powerful entity to battle the Surfer.8 However after the battle, the Ghost renounced Mephisto, who then began to banish the Ghost back to Limbo. However, the Surfer, truly understanding the torment of the Ghost's soul, sheds a single tear, which breaks the Ghost's curse freeing him from Mephisto's control and allows him to finally reach his eternal rest.9 His third attempt he offered the Surfer what he wanted most to be freed from the barrier created by Galactus. He agreed and travels to Zenn-La. However Mephisto captured Shalla-Bal. However back on earth after battling he tells the surfer he would free her if he destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D..10 Mephisto secretly replaces a secretary at S.H.I.E.L.D. with Shalla-Bal in the hopes that the Surfer will kill her along with the rest of the organization. However the Surfer refused to hurt anyone, so he sent her back to Zenn-La.11 Thor Thor who was trapped in Loki's body was banished to Mephisto's realm. But when he touched his shoulder he realized it was Thor. Sif and the Warriors Three went Mephisto's realm, were they found him and Thor frozen in a chunk of ice.12Thor used the selfsame powers to free his friends then defeated Mephisto by radiating his inner goodness, causing the hell-lord extreme pain. Surrendering, Mephisto transported them all back to Asgard.13 Odin condemns the heroes to Earth for daring to question him. Tana Nile uses her control pack to disguise herself as an Earthling, accepting the fact that she and Silas Grant are marooned on Earth. Doctor Donald Blake discovers that his office has been closed in his absence due to a change in building ownership. Slowly but surely, the exiled and marooned are separated and all fall prey to Mephisto. He later battled him again went he is forced back to his realm.14 He used his demons to disguise as his friends taunt him. However he is able to see through the ruse and escape.15 Doctor Doom Cynthia von Doom faced constant persecution at the hands of the Baron and his men, and in an effort to punish them, she made a deal with Mephisto, promising him her soul. Cynthia walked into a village and started killing the Baron's men, but unbeknownst to her, the magic she was using also killed every child in the village, just as Mephisto had planned. Horrified over what she had done, she renounced the power, and was stabbed by a dying guardsman. She survived long enough to wander into the woods, where she died in the arms of her husband, making him promise to keep their son Victor from walking the same path as her. Upon her death, her soul was trapped in Mephisto's realm, to be tortured for all eternity.16 Doctor Doom was allowed to summon and challenge the Mephisto once a year and try to win back the soul of his deceased mother. After casting a spell to summon the Lord of Lie's presence in his castle, Doom battles the Devil's chosen champion: Kagrok the Killer. However he lost each time to the prince of lies.17 Ghost Rider The human stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze once made a pact with Mephisto, whom he believed to be Satan, exchanging his soul for Mephisto's saving his stepfather "Crash" Simpson from dying from cancer.18 But then Mephisto allowed Simpson to die instead from injuries suffered in performing an unsuccessful motorcycle stunt. However, before Mephisto could take possession of Blaze's soul, Simpson's daughter Roxanne arrived and recited a spell of banishment she had read in one of Blaze's occult books. Mephisto was forced to flee without Blaze's soul, but not before he had grafted the essence of the demon Zarathos to Blaze's body. Roughly two thousand years ago Mephisto had taken control of the living flame that was Zarathos' soul. Since Zarathos was too powerful to use as a mere lackey, Mephisto amused himself over the centuries by placing the essence of Zarathos in a human host. Mephisto employed him in that form to claim human souls. After Mephisto grafted Zarathos' essence onto Blaze, Zarathos would continually take control of Blaze's body. The composite Zarathos/Blaze entity became known as Ghost Rider. Mephisto made a deal with Jennifer Glatzer a Satanist. She Linda Littletrees involved in Satanism under the pretense of harmless fun. However, she soon became a sacrifice that they offered to Satan, and Linda's soul was put in forfeit. He sent her after Ghost Rider, however when she failed. Mephisto forced her to turn her own Satanic power on herself in front of Blaze as both punishment and a warning. In a desperate bid to save Roxanne, Blaze surrendered himself to the devil. He is however stopped by Son of Satan. He next sends Roulette after them He then tricked Roxanne into coming to hell to rescue her father,27 he tried to use her again to gain Ghost Rider's soul, but fails. Tormenting the Surfer Mephisto kidnapped Shalla Bala again but when the Surfers comes to his realm to attack him he transformed into energy and sends the energy orb out into space. The Surfer chases after it, however when he realizes he's once more trapped in the barrier around the Earth.29 Hell-Lords The Hell-Lords met in Hades they decided to merge their respective realms, thus increasing their power, and to begin taking in new souls. They perform a ritual creating the nexus of the netherworlds. Unfortunately, this also summons the Demogorge, who begins consuming the Hell-Lords one by one.30 Mephisto saved Darkoth afrom an explosion by transporting him to his realm. He then sent him against Thor.31 Master Pandemonium Mephisto has sometimes been impersonated by lesser demons who imitate his form. Such demons are defeated far more easily than the virtually invincible Mephisto. Mephisto has also bound demons to actor Martin Preston, creating the entity called Master Pandemonium.32 Franklin Richards Doom kidnaps Franklin so that he may give Franklin's soul to Mephisto in exchange for the relief of his mother's. 33 At another time, Mephisto initiated a complex plot that in the end would cause Hela (the Asgardian death goddess) trouble in the far future. Hela had recently stolen some twentieth century souls that rightfully belonged to him. Knowing of Hela's curse against Thor, he wished to demonstrate to Thor the horrors of living on a plane of the dead.{ First of all, Mephisto transported the Fantastic Four and Franklin Richards physically to his plane. There he tricked Susan Richardsinto believing that he had made a deal with Reed Richards years earlier. Mephisto then apparently took away Reed's intelligence, making Reed a drooling idiot. Sue agreed to stay in Mephisto's realm if he returned Reed's intellect and returned the Fantastic Four and Franklin to Earth. A desperate Reed thought that the clue might mean the X-Factorteam.34 He contacted them and asked for their help. X-Factor agreed, and ultimately confronted Sue Richards, under Mephisto's control, and Mephisto, who appeared in a waterfront warehouse. Mephisto tried to get them to bargain with him, but Iceman refused and broke Mephisto's seductive spell. They attacked but he was able to use his illusion powers to confuse them. He then got Jean Grey to agree to sell her soul, in return for the release of Sue Richards and X-Factor. The X-Men then tried to rescue Jean Grey, and Mephisto tricked Rogue into believing he was susceptible to her power to absorb other people's memories and powers.35 Wishing to save the X-Men, she used her powers to absorb their personalities. Rogue then found out that Mephisto had been pretending that her powers could affect him. He then drained her soul, plus the personalities of all the X-Men she had absorbed. Mephisto then transported himself and Rogue to where the badly beaten Thor lay, after battling the Midgard Serpent. Hela arrived, claiming Thor's soul as her own. Mephisto somehow used Rogue's powers to release Thor's soul from his body. Mephisto captured Thor's soul and then sent Rogue back to the X-Men. Hela arranged for the Avengers to arrive to fight Mephisto, while she tried to free Thor's soul. Mephisto was able to beat the Avengers while Hela was unable to free Thor's soul from Mephisto's mystic mylar. 36 Mephisto tried to break Thor's soul, with temptation and pain, but he was unable to. Realizing that such a soul on his plane would cause nothing but trouble, Mephisto returned Thor's soul to his body and conceded defeat to Hela. Mephisto then revealed to the Living Tribunal that he had been shamming his weakening power, and that he never really had any claim over Thor's soul anyway. The whole plan had been to give Thor a small taste of what it was like on a plane of the dead. When Thor's soul finally arrived on Hela's plane, Thor would be more determined than ever to cause Hela as much trouble as possible.37 Mishna Mishna a poor Landlak seeked to bargain her soul with Mephisto in exchange for immortality, in order to provide for her family forever.38She crossed path with Silver Surfer, and after a small talk, Mishna changed her mind and refused to deal with Mephisto.38 Mephista Mephisto had a daughter Mephista39 and an unidentified human mother.40 She once battled Doctor Strange on a number of occasions.41 Scarlet Witch Mephisto's soul was used by the Scarlet Witch to give birth to twin sons, Tommy and Billy.42 He reabsorbed them, effectively ending their existence. Wanda had also reanimated her deceased mentor, Agatha Harkness, through whom she cast a spell to make her forget her children in order to ease her pain.43They were later reborn Speed and Wiccan4445 Wolverine Wolverine ran across Ballistic while looking for the missing Zoe Culloden. Once they find his missing companion, the duo end up fighting her as she and Heatwave have been mind controlled by Mephisto.46 Nighthawk Nighthawk was put into a a coma and kept alive, listed in a hospital simply as a John Doe. He was revived from his coma, seemingly by an angel, who granted him with special visions that enabled him to see crimes before they were committed. Returning to his life of heroics, Nighthawk soon found that this supposed blessing was a nightmare in the making: He attacked criminals before they committed a crime, making him a criminal himself and attracting the attention of Daredevil. This led to a clash between the two where Nighthawk in a fury killed Daredevil. He and Daredevil's corpse were transported to Hell where Kyle learned that his "gift" was actually given to him not by an angel, but by Mephisto.47. rapped in Hell, Kyle fought his way out, carrying the corpse of Daredevil along the way and found a means to restore Daredevil back to life via demonic flames48. Ultimately, they escaped from Hell after Mephisto attempted to trick the two heroes into believing that they were in Heaven, however Daredevil saw through this illusion and they returned to Earth49. Brass Bishop Centuries ago, Bishop Benedicto de Vica Severtes fell in love with a young woman named Beatriz, but feeling God would never allow him to have her, he turned to Mephisto, a powerful demon to have her by his side in exchange for his soul upon death. He soon learned why it is dangerous to deal with a devil for Beatriz was by his side, but as a nun, even farther from his grasp. Feeling betrayed by both god and devil a like, he swore he wouldn't lose his soul without reason and constructed a suit of brass which had the power to conceal the soul of whomever wore it. However, it required the blood of an innocent woman to seal it, ensuring the security of his soul. The Bishop turned to the only woman whose soul he could entrust was pure, that of Beatriz. When Mephisto noticed the Bishop's soul was missing, he sent out one of his demons, Dargil, to investigate. But the Bishop had been waiting and beheaded him, putting his head on a chain as his servant. He then challenged Mephisto to return his soul, but Mephisto would only give it back to him in exchange for Beatriz, which was in heaven. The Brass Bishop vowed he would never trade her soul for his but as the years passed, he grew more weary of life and decided to capture Beatriz' soul to hand over to Mephisto. To that end he built the mystical Tower of Babel which would lead to heaven, through the use of the Solomon Seal. However, Puck and the sorcerer Modred were able to stop him. The Brass Bishop re-surfaced however, and took over the town of White Cross, Newfoundland, where he reconstructed the Tower using the citizens as slaves. Alpha Flight was sent in to investigate. While Puck's memories of his encounter with the Bishop were clouded, he soon remembered all. The Bishop had attempted to lure Puck out so that he could use him as a pathfinder to the Solomon Seal. Which he did, after gaining control of him in the Tower. But Puck was able to gain enough control over himself (with the help of the other souls the Bishop had trapped) to to use the Solomon Seal (which mystically opens anything) to unseal the brass armour. Standing feet away from the gates to heaven, the armor came undone and Mephisto welcomed Benedico de Vica Severtes to his immortal realm. The Bishop gone, the Tower disappeared and the townspeople returned to normal. 50 Black Panther Mephisto went to meet with the Black Panther. He travels to their apartment where Everett Ross received a knock on the door but when he opened it he is shocked to find a demonic threat. Ross became the Devil's Advocate as he is left to entertain him until the Panther's return. Mephisto conjured a pair of pants for Everett while they waited, which frightened Everett as he believed he had sold his sole. But T'Challa returned and saved Everett knocking out the demon. Everett wondered how he could defeat Mephisto so easily, it was revealed he sold his soul to him, but what Mephisto was not aware of was the Black Panther was forever tied to the Panther God. Mockingbird After the death of Mockingbird's soul had apparently become trapped in Mephisto's realm. Bobbi sent a message which helped in the resurrection of Hellcat. Mephisto pitted Mockingbird and Hellcat in the arena of tainted souls, During the Archenemy's attack on the united Splinter Realms, Mephisto and his forces guarded the western portion. Lilyana Rasputina from an alternate Earth had a son called Hutch. Unfortunately, as he had been born between dimensions, they all had equal claim on the child and he was part of all of them, without ever having a true body. A rather desperate mother, Magik struck a deal with Mephisto, who would ensure that Hutch would get a body, the cost would be the deaths of mutants of all dimensions, as all of them were drawn to the dimension where Hutch was. The boy was happy to finally have a body and see his mother but, when he learned what a huge sacrifice this would entail, he sacrificed himself and returned to being non-corporeal. Nightcrawler He gate crashed Nightcrawler's birthday party to ask if was willing to help in the battle in the Hell realms. He offered to resurrect his brother Stephen Szardos and protect his family from harm. He refused and told the demon to leave; One More Day When Spider-Man's Aunt May was wounded from a sniper bullet. Mephisto approached him and offered him a deal. He saved her from death but erased Spider-Man's marriage to Mary Jane Watson and all the happiness it brought, as well as the public knowledge of his secret identity from the world. Molecule Man Norman Osborn was transported to dark dimension, before Mephisto, Enchantress ,set ,Zatharos ,Molecule man and the Dragon of the moon. However it was not Mephisto but an illusion created by Molecule Man. Doctor Strange is forced to make a deal with the Mephisto in order to save the world. Dísir Mephisto's a portion to his realm to the Disir, the forsaken Valkyrie of Bor, much to the annoyance of his demon subjects. He also allowed them to invade Hela; Hel as he did not care about their territorial agreements. Thor was brought before Mephisto himself. He warned Asgardian that his subjects won't be pleased with his presence. He tried to make a bargain, promising to give him the Eir-Gram and a "happily ever after" for Asgard if he agreed. Thor is fighting his way through the hordes of demons. He found the Eir Gram but could not lift it. Mephisto explained that the Dísir who placed it there simply enchanted it to only go for who it "Doth belong". With Hela calling him from Hel, Thor makes a hard decision: calling on the Disir, who decide to end him. He defeated the Disir and with the souls of the dead saved, Hela traveled to his realm, where she confronts Mephisto who denied any desire to even invade Hel. Mephisto is one of the many villains contacted by Deadpool when he was looking for mercenary work. Fear itself Loki manged to recruit both Mephisto and Hela to side with him against serpent. Date with Magma When Dani Moonstar was forcibly moved to Hel, the New Mutants accidentally teleported into a Mephisto's Hell instead of Hel.74 Mephisto offered New Mutants a deal, he will send them out of Hell, and even teleport them straight into the Hela's domain, in exchange for a date with Magma.75 Amara agreed, and Mephisto teleported the team in Hel.76 He even saw her again but she wished to keep it a secret.77Mephisto's relationship with Magma collapsed after she uncovered his dealings with the dangerous Disir, which caused her to call off any chance of furthering their relationship, much to his displeasure.78 Closing Time Mephisto liked to at closing time choose a bar and talk talk about his day. If you listen and survive, he will give you a tip. At his latest bar he told the bartender about what was happening during Fear Itself. He offered the barman a deal of eternal life with no pain. He whisked him away to his realm where he used his blood to provide ink, he wrote a request for a treaty with the Serpent and a warning about Loki.5 Alejandra Jones Mephisto appointed a new Ghost Rider Alejandra Jones Vetis Vetis was a demon tried to increase his power by manipulating Deadpool. Mephisto discovered his plan. For his betrayal attempt and his failure to cheat Deadpool, Mephisto took Vetis back to Hell for punishment Circle of Four When Blackheart tried to rule Hell by bringing it to Earth, Mephisto gave the heroes who were fighting his son, Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and Ghost Rider, another chance to live after they were killed by Blackheart's forces. Mephisto secretly bestowed the heroes with Hell Marks, which marked the heroes as his heirs without their knowledge, something Agent Venom would discover after his encounter with Hellstorm. Later, Mephisto was defeated and replaced by Strong Guy as the leader of Hell.87 However, when the Thunderbolts were accidentally transported to Hell, Mephisto took the opportunity to give them a way out if they defeated Strong Guy.88 Red Hulk managed to convince Guido to abandon the position of Hell Lord and try to regain his lost soul, allowing Mephisto to regain the throne and let the Thunderbolts return to Earth. Mephisto was later summoned by Agent Venom to remove his Hell Mark, which had been transferred to Mania via the Venom symbiote's clone and made her a target of the Department of Occult Armaments.90 Mephisto helped them deal with the DOA but refused to remove the Hell Mark, cryptically revealing that it had been bestowed upon the symbiote and not its host.91 Earth Crossover The Avengers and True Alpha all fought Mephisto. True Alpha killed Mephisto and in the process both True Alpha and Captain Marvel, went to Earth 1610 in the process by killing Mephisto everything turned back where it is used to be. Unfortuantely Bruce Banner, is still dead, even other characters as well.